The World Forgetting, and the World Forgot
by Min Daae
Summary: Post "Cold Blood." The Doctor is quiet and Amy has a case of the weepies, and both of them are trying so hard to keep each other happy.


It'd been strange in the TARDIS these past few days. Strange and _quiet. _

Amy had never been very good at quiet.

"So! Where are we off to next?"

"Mm?" The Doctor blinked and looked up, like he'd been thinking about something else. "Oh, right. Off to next." And he fell silent again. Thinking about something else. Brooding. He was miserable and she could see it but she couldn't think why…last time, with the lizard-things, previous inhabitants of earth – it'd gone well, hadn't it? Or at least, gone all right.

(There were tears on her face, she realized belatedly. Why was she crying?)

And now the Doctor, her raggedy Doctor, was looking at her again, and his eyes were full of sympathy and unhappiness. She swiped at her eyes and smiled at him. "So? You didn't answer my question. Where to next? I'm thinking a new planet, maybe? Haven't been a lot of new planets, other than that one with the angels, but that wasn't so fun, mostly."

The Doctor was frowning at her for a moment, and then tugged at his bow tie and spun the chair in a circle. "Different planet, that's what you're after, Amelia Pond? Different planet, new planet, how about Oberon Six, five-thousand years in the future, common stop for newlyweds…"

And then he stopped, just like that. Closed his mouth like a trap and spun around in a circle without continuing.

"Well?" she said, "That sounds wonderf-"

"No, nah, nein, what was I thinking. Rubbish planet. You don't want to go there, nothing interesting. Ah, I've got it – there's this one little place, trees a thousand feet tall and gorgeous – well, not birds, you'd have to see to believe it – or the caverns of Rafessle, glitter like they're full of stars in the dark, haven't been there in years…"

Amy thought privately that Oberyn Six sounded like a great deal more fun, but she was trying to cheer up her raggedy Doctor, so she just smiled. "Either of them sound great, though I don't know about the caverns. I went spelunking once, and fell down and cut my knees all to pieces, and-"

She blinked. A strange feeling came over her and she remembered someone trying to press a shirt to her knees and sounding panicky, but there was nothing there and _dammit _why was she crying again?

"Amy?" said the Doctor, and his voice was curiously gentle as he took her face between his hands, frowning worriedly. "And what?"

She shook her head, after a moment. "And nothing. That's it," she said, and sniffed. He looked so worried she made herself laugh. After all, it was rubbish that she was crying anyways. Probably just the weepies, even if she'd never gotten that way before. "Why am I crying?" she asked. "Good god, I'm such an idiot…"

"No," he said, almost sharply. "You're _not, _you're brilliant."

"Got no reason to be crying," she said, and wiped her eyes. "Now come on. Tell me where it's going to be. Maybe Rio de Janeiro? I'd love to go to Rio, that's where we were going, wasn't it?"

He looked for all the world like she'd slapped him, the little jerk and all. His face fell hard and fast and he turned away from her. "What?" She asked, frowning. "Something wrong with Rio de Janeiro?"

"Everything's wrong with Rio," he said, "No, how about the trees? I think the trees sound good."

He was so _upset _about it that she sighed and let go of her thoughts of beaches and sun. And another planet, maybe another planet would be good. Maybe another planet would get rid of this ridiculous case of the weepies.

He was looking at her again. "What?" She asked, a bit peevishly. "Have I got something on my face?"

"Amelia," he asked, his brow furrowing, "Are you all right?"

She smiled, and flicked her hair out of her face. The salty tracks of her tears were sticky on her face, but that didn't matter. She was happy, right? There was no reason not to be. "Of course I am," she said, brightly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

The Doctor just looked at her for a few more moments in silence, his eyebrows twitching. Then he threw the lever that sent the TARDIS into flight, and she grabbed for the console and watched him force a smile. "Right then," he said, voice full of false cheer. "Next stop, _trees._"

He was quiet now, Amy mused, but a new planet – for her, anyway – would probably make him feel better. They had the whole universe to see, and her raggedy Doctor wouldn't be quiet for long.

She reached to her right, smiling at that thought, and then wondered why she'd been reaching, like she expected to find someone there.

There wasn't anyone. It was just her and her Doctor.

(She was crying again. Why was she crying?)

Just her and the Doctor. Exactly the way it should be.


End file.
